The Kalihi Teen Nutrition Partnership has been trying for five years to steer the eating habits of youngsters toward more fresh fruits and vegetables. This year it might be less of an uphill battle, because the network of health and social service agencies is challenging the kids to take the familiar comfort foods of Spam, corned beef and saimin and turn them into something that won’t cause long-term damage to their well-being.

It’s an approach that recognizes how these processed foods weave into the marvelous ethnic mixture of life in our islands. And that sometimes nothing hits the spot like Spam musubi and a salty bowl of hot noodles.

The path has been the fifth annual 808 Jr. Chef Showdown.

“The competition is the hook, the motivator. What they’re really learning is to cook a simple, healthy dish,” said Daniel Leung, coordinator of the culinary arts school at Kapiolani Community College, a major mover in the partnership.

At Palama Settlement Saturday, eight teams raced against the clock to show how they could transform greasy, starchy, high-calorie foods into appetizing dishes that satisfy federal “MyPlate” nutrition guidelines, and look tempting to boot. The 50-plus participants, ages 9 through 18, came from Kalihi nonprofit youth groups. They brainstormed recipes, incorporating common ingredients found at home, to make enough to serve six and stay on a $25 budget.

The kids were also judged on sanitation and safety practices, kitchen skills and basic cooking techniques, creativity, teamwork and other life skills.

Leung urged their parents and supporters in the audience: “Make sure you cook with them so when they leave home, they can take care of themselves.” And, hopefully, adopt some good eating habits that catch on with the rest of the family, one of the program’s goals.

In the end, each team garnered some kind of accolade. Tied for first place were YMCA Kalihi and Kokua Kalihi Valley.

The Kalihi Y team (nicknamed Diligence) made two kinds of lumpia, one using salmon and vegetables, the other, bananas. The team leader, Yvette (the organizers asked that only first names of the participants be used), said the four of them wanted to try making a typical Filipino party food into something more filling with the salmon and vegetables, with a shoyu suka — spiced vinegar sauce.

A sweeter version was filled with bananas and drizzled with honey. They practiced 10 times over two months, Yvette said.

“My first try was really hard, but I got the hang of it. My neighbors gave me pointers on wrapping it.” The most difficult part was rolling it tight, and slicing it cleanly without causing the delicate, pan-fried wrappers to crumble, Yvette said.

The Ehuola Ha Tuna MaChowdah team from Kalihi Valley shared first place for its flatbread tuna and salmon sandwich, with a kalo and olena vegan chowder. They made their own bread and mayonnaise. Most of the team members help cook at home, and chowder is a dish they eat often, along with other soups and sandwiches.

“My grandma makes really good corn chowder,” team member Hulali said. They substituted the usual bacon, potatoes and corn with green onions, olena (turmeric) and kalo (taro).

The Aina Momona team from Kalihi Valley made a coconut- kalo bisque and hoio-mackerel salad that won praise from judge Ronnie Nasuti for using laupele, which “I’d never even heard of before — I thought that was awesome.”

Team member Kaiao explained that laupele — sometimes called slippery cabbage — is slimy and needed to be well-rinsed, but that it enhanced food with a flavor “in the middle of salty and sour.”

A lot of their ingredients were handpicked by the team at a farm in Kalihi Valley, Kaiao added.

Nasuti, a Showdown judge for two years and chef at Tiki’s Grill & Bar, commended the teams that made tortillas, taco shells and bread from scratch, and then took it to another level by using nonwhite flours or adding sweet potato.

“That’s what cheffing is about, what living better is about. … They’re exactly getting the point that they have to take what they have,” he said, working within their limitations, whether they be financial, cooking ability or the availability of ingredients.

Palama Settlement’s team, which won an award for best flavors, used sweet potatoes in its taco shells, which were filled with a salmon and Vietnamese banh mi-style vegetable mixture. The potato added a vibrant orange color and unique texture to the shells, made with a gluten-free masa corn flour that was appreciated by one of the judges allergic to wheat.

One of their coaches, Jose Arias, a corporate chef for Grylt, suggested the sweet potato. In his Latin American childhood, Arias said, fresh tacos were comfort food, and he wanted to incorporate the Filipino and Vietnamese roots of the team members into the entree.

“It was tough to make it in an hour,” team member Vanessa said. In the beginning it actually took two hours, but after four or five practice sessions, they did it.

Her teammate, Jonathan, said learning to cook “got me into eating vegetables and new things. I’d never eat vegetables before — I thought it tasted weird. But I tried it combined with other things, and it was good!”

Nasuti said palate and memory are connected — “Like smelling something can take you back to your childhood, we all know that.” But what kids learn to eat when young isn’t always healthy, so they need to learn ways to make them more nutritious.

Nasuti added, “It’s a skill they can carry through life. In the end they should know they shouldn’t eat white rice and mac salad at every meal, too. That’s what they’re being taught here.”

CONJUGACION’S ADVICE: DO RICE RIGHT

At least twice during Saturday’s competition, “Brother” Noland Conjugacion, one of the judges, posed a question to the young cooks: “Who cooked da rice?”

To the delight of the young chef who raised his/her hand, Conjugacion gave a thumb’s up or double thumbs up as his verdict.

The award-winning Hawaiian musician said his question was basic to cooking and life, because “if you cannot cook rice right, that’s like trying to catch fish without learning to throw a net. In our family, you gotta cook rice good.”

It’s perfect, he said, when everybody says, “‘Oh! Ono, da rice!’ Rice is actually a metaphor. It’s life — perfecting something in everything you do, paying attention to the details.”

Although Conjugacion’s trademark is Jawaiian music, in 1996 he founded the Ho‘oea Initiative to teach at-risk children life skills using elements found in nature, and in 2014 wrote a survival handbook on the subject.

He, too, had a troubled youth growing up in the Kalihi-Palama area. Helping out as a basketball coach and mentor at Palama Settlement, he often applies the rice-is-life metaphor.